Jessie Ware

When I recently gave Londoner Jessie Ware a ring, the self-proclaimed "momma's girl" was between apartments and living back home with her mum. Even though the 27-year-old singer has caused quite a stir in the UK thanks to collaborations with futuristic producers SBTRKT, Sampha, and Joker-- a clamor that's steadily growing in the lead-up to her soulful, slinky debut album, Devotion, due in August-- she's in no danger of losing her head, partly thanks to her loving-yet-opinionated mother. "I was doing a headline show about a month ago and I had my hair done up," she recalls. "And as I was getting in the cab to go to the soundcheck, my mum went, 'You're not going out like that. Why don't you show your beautiful, long hair, darling?' I love my mum to pieces, but she always wants me to look like I'm going to a Bat Mitzvah." The hair stayed up. (Watch footage from that recent London gig below.)

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That said, it was Ware's mother who encouraged her to keep singing and dancing a few years back, when Jessie was considering leaving the performance world behind and going to law school. Ware describes herself as "boringly sensible," and, listening to her charmingly self-deprecating attitude on the phone, one gets the impression that she's not fully aware of her talents-- a smooth, expressive voice coupled with a finely-tuned sense of musical subtlety.

She signed to PMR Records on the strength of the 2010 SBTRKT collaboration "Nervous", and then, after years of being in the shadows as a backup singer, she had to figure out how to write songs and step out herself. "I didn't know what the fuck I wanted to be, so I had a bit of a freak-out the first few months after I was signed," she says. Enter producers Dave Okumu of the Invisible and Julio Bashmore, who helped her find her voice on Devotion, which was recorded late last year. The record is a deep mix of R&B, pop, dance, and hip-hop that draws inspiration from a diverse array of greats-- Sade, Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, J Dilla, Big Pun-- all while highlighting Ware's marquee-ready vocals. "I always wanted the album to have a classic songwriting feel while also being modern," says the singer, and that combination can be heard on singles "110%" and "Running", as well as the record's title track, all embedded below.

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Pitchfork: What were your initial aspirations as a singer?

Jessie Ware: I sung from an early age and I was always given nice parts in school musicals, but I definitely wasn't the golden girl. I didn't have the guts. You've got to have a real confidence in yourself to be like: "I'm gonna be a singer and write songs." I never thought it would go anywhere because it's so unattainable to be a singer. I'd watch "Top of the Pops" and think I could never do that. And I didn't look like a pop star compared to the people I used to watch on MTV like J.Lo or Destiny's Child.

So I went to university and studied English literature, and I forgot about music. I was gonna be a journalist. But then I decided to try and be a backing singer, and my mum was like, "Go for it." If that didn't work, I was gonna go to law school. I was just being boringly sensible; trying to be a singer felt a bit indulgent.

Pitchfork: How so?

JW: My boyfriend gets up at six a.m. every day to go and work with children in a school. Meanwhile, I get to make an album. I feel like I've been very lucky. There is a guilt when I see people I know who work really hard, then I'm like, "Oh, I've got to do an interview today." I'm so appreciative of all of this, but it does feel like the bubble will burst at some point and it will all have been a dream.

"I'm really influenced by American R&B and hip-hop, and how
far I can take that being a British, middle-class, Jewish girl."

Pitchfork: Did you have any trying moments while making Devotion?

JW: Yeah, a lot of it was about gaining the confidence to get past the idea of, like, "Who gives a shit about what I'm gonna fucking write a song about?" I had to stop hiding behind being a backing singer, and I didn't think anybody would really care what I had to say.

Pitchfork: How did you get over that?

JW: I started meeting the right people, like [producer] Dave [Okumu], who explained to me how songwriting is really simple-- "just like shitting," he said. [laughs] "You gotta let it all out." When he put it like that, however disgusting it is, it made a lot of sense to me.

JW: Listening back to the record now, I realized I'm a huge romantic. There's a lot of fantasy or embellishment in there, and, as a not-very-confident songwriter, it was easier for me to pretend to be somebody else sometimes. The album is about relationships, but I definitely wanted it to feel as effeminate and romantic as possible without being saccharine.#iframe:http://www.youtube.com/embed/kvlFWmvgeVI||||||

Pitchfork: Your videos are quite stylized, do you have strong ideas about how you want to present yourself visually?

JW: Yeah, I do. I want to look classy and sophisticated. For the "Running" video, I wanted to make a bit of a statement and to be slightly over-the-top. I'm not taking the piss out of myself, but I'm not taking myself too seriously, either. I'm just having fun and trying to pretend I'm a pop star, really.

Most of it is theater because I always have to pretend I'm somebody else to give the best performance. It kind of feels like I'm acting; it's definitely an exaggerated version of me. I'm a very normal, down-to-earth person, but I wanted the videos to be striking, so I have to lay it on a little bit. I always liked how people like Grace Jones and Annie Lennox pushed it with the videos. I'm not the most stylish person at all, but there's something about playing dress-up for the day and playing the role of a singer.

Pitchfork: You have a commercial voice, though you're working with artists who are under-the-radar. Was there any pressure to work with bigger producers?

JW: I tried a couple of pop writers-- none of the big, big, big ones-- but it didn't work for me. I do have a commercial voice; I'm not quirky. I'm very normal and that's probably why I like people like Barbra Streisand and Whitney Houston. It's no-nonsense. They sing well, and that's it.

But I love aspects of left-field indie music, too; I love people like Beach House and the National and CocoRosie, and I like interesting production, like Clams Casino. I wanted to experiment with that. And the album feels slightly rough around the edges to me. I don't want it to be polished. It's got little bits and bobs of everything I love: soul, hip-hop, R&B.

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Pitchfork: Usually, people try to show off every single thing they can do on a debut album, but there's a real sense of patience and restraint on Devotion.

JW: That was a definitely an influence from working with people like SBTRKT and Dave. I started as a backing singer, where you had to let rip live, but SBTRKT taught me about "less is more" and he celebrated a softer delivery. I was really aware that I wanted the record to be listened to and enjoyed, and then I could push it more during the live show.

JW: Oh, wicked. I think Drake is a dreamboat, and I like his flow and melodies. I loved "Marvins Room". I feel like there's an honesty with him. When I was younger, I listened to everything from Ja Rule and Ashanti to Montell Jordan, and I'm really influenced by American R&B and hip-hop, and how far I can take that being a British, middle-class, Jewish girl. It's funny, in Sacha Baron Cohen's film Ali G Indahouse, there's this Jewish boy and he's listening to Tupac and DMX in the mirror; for Jewish boys and girls, I think the R&B and hip-hop thing is definitely alluring because it's like watching Batman and Batgirl.

Pitchfork: Well, Drake is Jewish, too.

JW: [laughs] I know. My cousin is an orthodox Jew who lives in Vegas and she saw him on the cover of a Jewish magazine. She emailed his rep, inviting him for dinner, and used me as the bait, like, "I'm the cousin of Jessie Ware." It's really weird. Jews like to celebrate Jews.